It’s BBWAA Awards Week: Here’s a look at the races — with predictions for each

Although there have been other season wrap-up awards already announced – Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, et cetera – the big four will be presented this week: Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, Cy Young and MVP.

The Baseball Writers Association of America’s awards announcements kick off tonight with the American League and National League Rookies of the Year. It’s the only dog the Orioles have in these fights: Left fielder Trey Mancini is one of three finalists, along with Boston outfielder Andrew Benintendi and New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, who appears to be a lock for the award.

Mancini finishing as a finalist is a rare accomplishment for an Oriole. You have to go back to Daniel Cabrera – yes, Daniel Cabrera – in 2004 for the last time an Oriole finished Top 3 in the voting. The last Oriole to win was Gregg Olson way back in 1989.

That ignominious streak will continue. Judge probably will be a unanimous winner; we’ll find out shortly after 6 tonight on the awards show, which airs on MLB Network.

Each day, through Thursday, there will be a new set of winners announced (managers on Tuesday, Cy Youngs on Wednesday and MVPs on Thursday).

Full disclosure: I am a longtime member of the BBWAA and I voted for one of the awards this year. Since we’re not allowed to reveal our vote until the winners are named, I’m not going to disclose which category I voted for. That’ll keep the mystery going.

Here are the candidates for each of the four major awards in both leagues and who I think should win each one.

6 Comments

Bancells Moustache

November 13, 2017 at 12:33 pm

In an Awards season that is light on drama, I pretty much agree with all of your picks excepting Goldy over Stanton (which you mentioned was probably going to happen anyway), since Stanton’s got the sexier numbers. One of the most surprising things about this season was how little attention was paid to Giancarlo’s run at 61. It got a little bit of coverage, but nowhere near what I expected. particularly since the end of the playoff races was so anti-climactic. Let’s face it, 73 home runs is now sitting next to 511 wins and .424 as an untouchable figure created in a bygone era. Barring some incredible breakthrough in human development, or MLB going the way of bodybuilding and allowing PED usage, no one is getting there again. Not only is 61 viewed by most as the “legitimate” HR record, it’s also the one a Stanton or a Judge has a chance to actually break. It’s just a pity that no one seems to care.

I don’t agree with your Manager of the Year opinions. A.J. Hinch has to be Manager of the Year in the A.L. If he doesn’t get it, it has to be Francona. Molitor’s team got to the Wild Card, a nice achievement but the Astros and Indians were the best teams in the A.L.
Has to be Dave Roberts in the N.L. The Dodgers were on a record-setting pace for the most of the season and that is a team with a number of egos. The Rockies and the Diamondbacks had decent seasons but they were wild card entries.
I know the sentiment is to give the award to the surprise team in each league. But, there weren’t any major surprises among the division winners.

Can’t really argue against the job Hinch did, but I think Molitor gets it on the strength of the Twins turnaround and that he is a name. Let’s be honest, this year the American League was three good teams and a bunch of bad ones, which Minnesota managed to parlay into an extra days pay.

I think Roberts has a chance. But I’d be blown away if Molitor doesn’t win. He had baseball’s worst team and he made the playoffs. Hinch had a really good team that was supposed to win its division and did. Credit there. But remember playoff performances don’t matter for the award.